April 29th, 2009
 

A stock of swine influenza never seen before, a mix of virus that affect pigs, birds and human beings, has turned lethal in Mexico and has sickened citizens from United States and other countries.

Altough the authorities have said that this is not the moment to panic, they are taking measures to stop the propagation and exhorted people to pay attention to recent alerts.

"Social participation is crucial", said last Monday doctor Richard Besser, temporary director of the Control and Prevention of Diseases Centers (CDC).

This is what you must know:

P: How can I protect myself and my family?

R: From now on, take precautions with the advice of your common sense  Cover yourself when you sneeze and cough with a tissue or with your forearm, instead of doing that with your hand. Wash your hands frecuently; if you have not water and soap, use gel for hands as a substitute. Stay at home if you're sick and don't send your children to school if they feel sick.

P: How difficult is to CONTAGIARSE the virus?

R: Scientists don't know yet if close or prolonged contact is required, or if it propagates more easily. But in general, flu viruses extend through sneezes or cough saliva -and this is important- or when you touch your nose or mouth with non-washed hands. Flu viruses can live on different surfaces -as door MANIJA touched by someone who sneezes in its hands- for hours,

P: Government in Mexico is giving masks to cover mouth and nose. Do I need one?

R: The CDC says that it doesn't exist any evidence that masks help, actually. It is more secure to avoid any close contact with a sick person, and going to places very concurred where it's known that swine flu is propagating. But if you can't do this, rules of CDC indicate that it's ok to considerate using a mask, though it doesn't have to be any sustitute of other preventive acts.

P: Is there any treatment of swine flu?

R: Yes, with Tamiflu or Relenza medications, but not with any medication that existed before; they are old.

P: Is that enough?

R: Yes, federal government has enough medication for 50 million people, and many states count with aditional reserves. As a precaution, the CDC has sent 1/4 of its provitions to the states for them to have it close, in case the sickness starts to extend even more.

P: Do I have to take Tamiflu as a precaution if I'm not sick?

R: No. To be abusive with antiviral medication can help germs become more resistant to them.

P: How big is my rick to get sick?

R: For most of the people, it's very low. Til now, outside of Mexico, sickness centers seem to be related to travels to that country.

P: Why is people dying in that country and not in the US?

R: That's a mystery. In first place, think that nobody knows certainly how many people have died in Mexico because of this stock of influenza, or how many people are suffer from it. Just a few of suspicious deaths have been analized and confirmed that it was because of swine flu; and some inicialy suspicious cases have resulted to be other thing.

P: Should i cancel the trip I've planned to Mexico?

R: The United States confirmed on Monday an alert against non-esential trips to that nation.

P: What more are you doing in the US, or anywhere, to try to stop this virus?

R: The US is starting to put limits in the revision of voyagers to Mexico, in the way that the ones that are evidently sick, can be send to treatment. Other governments have emitted its own warnings on trips and restrictions. Mexico is taking the more intense measures, like closing great places of meeting as cinemas, churches, stadiums. In american cities with buds of thie disease it could also stablish a limit on relations between people: New York closed the affected school during some days; so we have to be alert to hear if in your community is someone sick.

P: What are the symptoms?

R: They are similar to the influenza that usually affects human beings: temperature, cough, throat-ache, head-ache and pain in the joints, chill  and fatigue. Some people also develop diarrhoea and vomit.

P: How can i know if I should attend to a doctor? Maybe my symptoms are about something else, like allergy to polen.

R: The health authorities say that if you live in places that are confirmed to be affected of swine influenza, or if you have traveled recently to Mexico and you have symptoms, ask your doctor if you need treatment or an examination. Allergies do not cause fever. And ordinary stomach sickneses don't go with respiratory symptoms, says doctor Wayne Reynolds, from Newport News, Virginia, spokesman of the American Academy of Family Doctors.

P: Is there a vaccine to avoid this new infection?

R: No. And the inicial tests made by the CDC suggest that the vaccine of flu applied the last winter offers no protection.

P: How long does it take to produce a vaccine?

R: Some months. The CDC has created a storing that's called "reserve seed" of the new virus that the vaccine manufacturers would require to start production. But the government has not decided yet if the bud is serious enough to order its production.

P: What is swine influenza?

R: Pigs propagate its own stock of flu and, from time to time, human beings adquire them after a contact with the animals. This new stock is a mixture of a virus from a pig with some viruses from birds and humans. Unlike the more typical swine influenza, this one is propagating from person to person. A bud in 1976 of another unusual virus of swine influenza in Fort DIX, New Jersey, detonated a problematic campaign of massive vaccination, but in that occasion the influenza disappeared.

P: Is it safe to eat pig meat?

R: Yes. The virus of swine influenza does not propagate through aliments.

P: And what happened to avian influenza? Wasn't, that one, the one supposed to be the next pandemia?

R: Specialists have warned for a long time that this is about a stock that has never seen before, for which people have little or null natural immunity, without taking in mind if its origin is in a bird or in a pig. Avian influenza has not disappeared; scientists are also tracking it. Source: University of Massachusetts.

The Editor